• Business Week / AP, Monday, April 10, 2006 11:15 AM

Here's a mostly positive take on CBS' decision to bring Katie Couric to "The CBS Evening News" and "60 Minutes." There's been plenty of ink spilled on the other side by carpers who say Couric is ill-equipped, credentials-wise, to fill the seat left vacant by Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite before him. But TV is different these days, and it is especially different for the network newscasts, which must compete with myriad other distractions and, most significantly among younger viewers, the Internet. By luring a major TV star to the "Evening News," and by promising to make additional changes in the presentation of the news, CBS is saying that the timeslot still matters, even though it doesn't spin off the cash it once did. (Now, the morning shows, such as "Today," are far more profitable.) "I think it's terrific that somebody of Katie Couric's caliber and talent is going into that genre, because that says to me that there is real importance in that evening-news format and there's going to continue to be real investment in it," says Steve Capus, whose work at "NBC's Nightly News" led to his promotion to network news president. Those who were interviewed by Associated Press writer David Bauder for this piece applauded CBS' move and thought Couric might well attract additional viewers to its flagship newscast.

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